Good Morning or Afternoon to all. My daughter sent me an article on writing a few weeks ago and it has taken me aback. One of the key elements was that you should write what people want to read about. Ted’s Head has been about what is going on in my little brain at any given point in time. Maybe I have it all wrong. It may be the height of arrogance. 

If I adhere to the thought of being popular in my thinking then am I just falling in line like most of us? It seems to me that we are being dictated to in so many ways. MAGA, DEI, AI and let’s throw in a little religion. If you don’t agree you are an outcast from either the left or the right. 

That would plunk one in the middle and alas, an enemy to most everyone else. People will pat you on the back and say “Go,gettem” but in reality it is a lonely spot. While you are being hit from all sides the silence is deafening. You know TTG, I agree with you but I really don’t want to get involved. 

I don’t like our world which borders on absurdity as I  write to you from Flalaland. Who has it any better? Unfortunately I take my cue from morning headlines.

Threats, retribution, war, polarization, hate, shootings, debt, wealth, fraud of all sorts, and dehumanization are just a few of hits we take as we try to make sense of this world. Plain and simple I don’t like to live this way. 

Ignore it you say. Stay in your own cocoon and don’t give a shit. You can put gates on your community, your front door and your thinking. If you view the world as a solitary place, created for your own personal enjoyment then I guess that works. Perhaps you could just dip your toe in the water every now and then, without getting wet above your ankles.  Just for today you are participating. 

Fraud exists because we let it. We prosecute the felons successfully only to see them pardoned. States, blue and red alike, look the other way because it actually results in more dollars in their coffers. You can look at your Medicare statement and see false or exorbitant charges. Report it? To whom? It’s all rounding errors anyway. 

This redistricting crap has gotten totally out of hand. There was a district in Louisiana that snaked for 250 miles. Chalk up one for the blue team. The reds don’t even try to hide the elimination of whole districts  and the equal representation they might have provided. We have learned to rig elections in a perfectly legal way. Oh c’mon TTG it has always been played that way. What a mess. 

I have spoken of the deficit so many times you are probably sick of it. Everything is costing more. Medicine, education, social security, infrastructure. Every department is busting their budgets.  Oh yes and don’t forget an extra $500 billion for defense. What should we do?  Cut taxes of course. Is there even one adult in the room? Not just in DC but in our own burghs and boroughs. 

Florida wants to do away with property taxes. Our Wall Street migration is clearly a result of our not having an income tax. So where on earth do we get the money for schools, cops and firemen? Some genius has got to explain the hidden formula to me. We will just up the sales tax for visitors and not the locals. There are people in power proposing this.

My son is involved in 5G. He recently attended a seminar on the electrical grid both local and national. It is decidedly long in the tooth and requires huge amounts for restoration and rebuild. We have a solution. Let’s keep adding data centers that chew up wattage. Let’s shut down every bit of alternative energy. Wind farms are ugly. We can’t have them ruining our views. Let’s just go nuclear. It should only take 10-15 years to get them up and running. 

If you are still reading this missive it would be called “doom scrolling” in today’s vernacular. I look at it as a dose of reality. There are so many nooks and crannies that need attention that we could throw up our hands in disgust. Can we? 

My career has been “fixing”. Finding things that don’t make sense and try a new approach. Not prescient or radical but just exhibiting some common sense. Things get done the wrong way and continue on because we don’t like change. If I try to make it better but in a sense you have to admit that maybe you were wrong. I have to admit it too. Maybe together we can collaborate and come up with a better mousetrap. Do you see that happening. 

Whether it is government, corporate America, religion or even our own way of thinking we have got to find a better way. That would take leadership not blind obedience. We can hide our problems with glitz and futuristic plans of Nirvana. We can find hope in the casinos of Vegas et al, on line betting, lotteries or Wall Street. We can kid ourselves all you want. How do you think that is going to work out? 

I am lost at sea but I hope you see I am trying to figure out solutions and engender participation. I guess you can call me a pragmatic optimist. Care to join me?

As Always 

Ted The Great